Music Lovers

Krakow-born and Philadelphia-raised, Bernstein established herself in the New York art world in 1912. Trained in figure painting and portraiture by William Merritt Chase and others, she also drew inspiration from Robert Henri and his Ashcan colleagues as well as modern European artists whose work she encountered abroad as well as at the 1913 Armory Show. Best known for scenes of contemporary life—including major subjects of her time such as World War I and popular entertainments, as in this work—Bernstein was also committed to depicting social causes that shaped her activism, from the woman’s suffrage movement and the plight of immigrants and the unemployed to efforts countering racial and socio-economic discrimination.

Music Lovers reveals Bernstein’s traditional training as well as lessons learned from the European Expressionism that captivated her on early trips to Europe. According to a 1922 account, Music Lovers derived from months of study of various individuals standing in line for performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, on Broadway and West 39th, in the Garment District. Opened in 1883 and demolished in 1967, it was the first home of the Metropolitan Opera. Established as an alternative to the old-moneyed and discriminatory Academy of Music, the Opera House, its early years, drew a more diverse cross-section of New Yorkers for its differently priced orchestra seats and upper galleries. As evident in Bernstein’s painting—initially inspired by her own visit to the Opera House box office and drawn from memory, then, on-site sketches—the audience was broad, with upper- and middle-class women joining working-class and upper-class men. While Bernstein depicted these figures as distinct characters rather than mere types through careful details, the painting’s true portrait is of the artist’s mother, Anne Bernstein, who faces forward in elegant black-and-white attire, holding a walking cane and program. Music Lovers was acclaimed on its debut in the National Academy annual as "stunning," with other critics noting that Bernstein was a young artist to watch.